Fashion Show Etiquette 101: 3 Basic Rules to Follow

I've touched upon this before but now, thanks to David Tellier, who accompanied me on an assignment not too long ago, I have photographic depictions of what not to do when attending a fashion show.  

1. Be on time. People have a schedule to adhere to and if they're waiting for house seats to fill before starting, it isn't fair to everyone else who did show up on time. You might think you're being fashionably late but you're just being rude. 

2. No matter what the size or relative importance of the event, you should never ever cut across a runway. These things are always set up in such a way that you can get to your seat from somewhere else. There is no excuse for this blatant lack of respect (or public laziness). 

In addition to the fact that you will no doubt offend anyone who worked on the show (and anyone in the audience with manners), you are probably going to distract people with the prints you are leaving on stage (because this is someone else's stage that you are treading across). The lights will turn on and all people can see before anyone even steps out is this:

Now it's one thing for the models to leave prints behind and that they accumulate during a show but there is no reason for you to be leaving your dirty-ass, Montreal-winter-street-slush-stained, size 11 kick prints all over the damn place before a show even starts. 

3. And I cannot believe that I even have to address this last point but here we are: Do not, under any circumstances lean back and rest your feet up on the runway. No. 

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the skinny on jeans for the curvy woman

my photo shoot was cancelled, today, due to my model being sick. the poor thing sounded like hell and i hope she feels better soon! i had planned on sharing a little look at the results but, with that on the back burner, i'll turn to another topic. this one ties into my current challenge, as it has to do with curvy women and jeans. before you roll your eyes, thinking, 'here we go. yet another rant about how ample women should not wear skinny jeans', read on...

firstly, let me tell you that i am a feminist and i believe that every woman should wear whatever the hell she wants, whenever and wherever she wants and high five to her! that said, you can wear whatever you want but it doesn't mean that what you chose is stylish and that you're going to look fashionable. there tends to be more leeway when it comes to fashion sub-genres but we'll get to that later. 

i have a few rules for myself. do i think other people should adhere to these? no. but you might want to. ;-)

rule number one: make sure you're wearing clothing that fits you. this applies to everything you could possibly yank off a hanger, pull out of a drawer or pick up from a shoe rack. one ill-fitting piece will ruin the entire effect. this is rarely truer than in the case of the skinny jean. 

before deciding to write about my list of don'ts, i had a look around to see what everyone else is saying. i have yet to come across a fashion blog that says it's okay for a curvy woman to wear skinny jeans. more than that, i've found countless sites preaching about how only thin women should wear them. i wholeheartedly disagree. 

the key is how you wear them and how you accessorize. let us first talk about the psychobilly girl or the punk rocker. while she has more of a chance of looking great in a pair of skinny jeans, no matter what her size because, let's face it, add a studded belt, a hooded vest with patches and a pair of chucks to those suckers and you've got a complete (and bad-ass) look, i believe that there are two basic rules to follow:

1. it's not because they're skinny jeans that you need to buy them in a size so small that you require pliers to zip them up (i've watched my mother and aunt lay down on my parents' waterbed and do up their jeans this way in the 80s so that shit is for real) and you end your day with very little feeling left in your legs. they're made skinny so don't overshoot it. buy clothing that fits. 

2. my weight has fluctuated over the years and, for me, any time i've weighed over 160 lbs (and i'm lucky enough to look ten pounds lighter than i weigh, thanks to proportion and to my dad's genes), this rule applies: wear a shirt that is long enough to cover half of your bottom when your arms are down. this way, even if you lift your arms up, your muffin top (which is going to be less pronounced if you follow rule number one) will stay in your clothing, where i think mine belongs. 

not adhering to either of these can and most likely will result in a situation similar to this one:

or, god forbid, this one:

and i don't care how much or how little you weigh, this is not flattering in any universe. 

punk rock and psychobilly fashion aside, i don't see any reason that a woman of any size can't wear a nice pair of skinny jeans (that fit), with a nice top (that also fits), maybe a wide belt to accentuate her waist, if she has an hourglass figure and a nice pair of autumn, ankle boots, topped with a cute, cropped jacket. (the way you layer your pieces is also key but we'll touch upon that in another post). 

want to give it a go but you don't want to splurge? a facebook friend of mine recommended the rock star jean, at old navy. i looked it up and it's getting pretty good reviews. it's major selling point, when it comes to curvy women? these guys actually thought to add height to the butt and crotch seams, as the overall size of the jean increases, so you have an even better shot at avoiding exposed muffin top. 

extra bonus: these jeans come in a plethora of colours. here are a few that i think are great for the fall:

and, if anyone is thinking, "yeah. these look great. on these models. who are skinny', i came across a blogger with curves who, if you ask me, rocked the shit out of these pants (and has amazing fashion sense and a great blog so go and check her out):

i'll leave you with one last bit of advice. you want your skinny jeans to have some elasticity to them but don't pay too much for stretchy, skinny jeans. they will bounce back fairly well after you put them in the dryer but will eventually slacken. 

photo sources: 1-englishforum.ch 2-b-adore.com 3-bunnyanddolly.com 4-kirstinmarie.com

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